It seems Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz either had a premonition or else he saw that the Blue Jays had recently claimed journeyman left-hander Brad Mills and promoted him to the major-league roster. In any case, after a dismal series against the Royals on the weekend, WEEI’s Alex Speier tweeted out a classic Big Papi boast: “I’m about to get hotter than Jamaica in the middle of August.”

He was right. After an alarmingly failed start on Monday night by right-hander Drew Hutchison yielded nine hits and six runs in 2.2 innings, Jays manager John Gibbons chose to go to Mills, a lefty originally drafted by the Jays in the fourth round of the 2007 draft, at a time GM Alex Anthopoulos was assistant GM. Ortiz went deep twice to pass Carl Yastrzemski on the all-time home run list and drove in four runs as the Bosox romped to a 14-1 win. There should be an asterisk. Yaz never faced Mills.

The 29-year-old Mills had been claimed on waivers from the Oakland A’s four days earlier. To make room on the roster, the Jays optioned right-hander Chad Jenkins. What was Anthopoulos thinking? In the space of the previous calendar year, Mills had been released by the Rangers, signed as a free agent by the Brewers, purchased from the Brewers by the A’s, and finally claimed on waivers by the Jays. Again, what was Anthopoulos thinking?

To allow Mills to remain on the major-league roster through Monday, the Jays designated for assignment right-hander Sergio Santos. They publicly claimed to be hoping that Santos would clear waivers and be sent to Triple-A Buffalo, but really they had to be hoping that someone would claim him and the remainder of the $3.75 million that is guaranteed him this season, plus the $750,000 it will cost the Jays to buy him out of three consecutive club option years in a deal signed by the White Sox.

The fact that Santos is no longer a closer in anyone’s estimation and that the club options are for $6 million, $8 million and $8.75 million through 2017 makes it unlikely anyone will claim him. If by chance someone did, believing that their pitching coach could turn his career around, then that would clear enough money to allow Anthopoulos to take on a salary.

The smaller question that needs to be asked is: why did the Jays claim Mills on waivers and then keep him over both Jenkins and Santos? The answer is simple. Anthopoulos and the Jays love to have inventory and Mills, with no minor-league options remaining, was inventory. If that’s actually a reason to keep a pitcher as a fourth left-hander in a seven-man bullpen, it’s a problem.

The reality is that the World Series champion Red Sox have been the better team over the past two weeks, winning eight of nine games and gaining ground and confidence in a division race that remains wide open. The Sox now trail the Jays in the AL East standings by just 3.5 games with three games left in this series. Then, of course, the Jays head out on one of those dreaded three-city road trips. The Jays say they are not intimidated and don’t understand the issue on those long trips of nine or 10 games, but since 2009 they have been on 19 of them and returned with a winning record just three times.

In those 19 long road trips, the Jays are 68-118 (.366. That’s 50 games under .500. In all of their shorter road trips during that time, they are two games below the break-even mark. If the Jays and Anthopoulos claim they are not worried, then they’re not telling the truth. A 3-7 road trip, plus the confident Red Sox with three more at home, could spell disaster for the Jays.

Instead of asking if the Jays can add payroll on July 31, a skeptical ownership may be asking Anthopoulos to seek takers for high-salaried guys like Mark Buehrle, R.A. Dickey and others that were brought in in 2012 to bring a winner back to the city.

The Mills acquisition and the Jays’ decision to keep him as inventory over other players is symptomatic of what has befallen the Jays since the end-of-March debacle involving Ervin Santana, the revelation that the team was able to pay him only thanks to deferred contracts that certain players agreed to and the ultimate decision by the free-agent right-hander to head to Atlanta and the National League. That miscue changed everything and Anthopoulos has been playing catch-up ever since.

The Red Sox are still the champs until dethroned. The Jays seem like mere pretenders.

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